Recommend me best Plex device (within reason) for the lounge?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2003
Posts
14,420
Location
Marlow
So I've slowly come around to the pleasures of Plex.

I haven't yet got a device in my lounge to run it, although I am planning on getting a new TV towards the end of the year, which will no doubt be able to offer Plex.

Anyway, I need a unit to run Plux ideally with an optical out. For examlpe the Roku 4, or Minix Neo X8-H.

Is anyone able to suggest the best offering of Plex offered by these or similar devices?


Thanks!
 
I have Now TV boxes in my house, 3 of the first ones - based on the Roku LT - and one of the black version - based on a Roku 3, all running Plex Classic (as there is no access to the Roku store for the new app) and they all work brilliantly!
 
New Now TV box with PLEX sideloaded.
Chromecast.(No optical out)
Fire TV
Games console (PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, One)

So much choice!

Edit:
Didn't realise the Roku boxes(and thus the NOW TV) do not have optical, except the new Roku 4.
 
Last edited:
I've got an Amazon Fire TV box with Plex on it that I'm really impressed with, Plex server is my old WHS2011 HP N40L. On a couple of other TVs I'm using RaspberryPi's with RasPlex installed. They're not the quickest but they get the job done and allow pass through control from the TV remote. Iv not tried the Amazon box with 4K yet as I've got nothing to test it with, but I'm sure it'd cope.
 
I've got an LG TV that has Plex running quite happily.

Still got an Amazon FireTV and a Chromecast plugged into it, but simply 'coz I can't be bothered to unplug them - they haven't been used for nearly a year now!
 
I use Plex on my LG TV, most other manufactures require you to have a plex pass to use it where LG doesn't as it is made by a third party (The app).

If you have a chomecast and Plex is running somewhere else, you just want to connect to it.. Then you could use your phone or laptop/pc whatever to cast to chromecast then by it going to your TV it can feed to (Assume you have an amp hence the optical out requirement) your amp and output the sound there?
 
I use plex on the following devices:

Chromecast (no optical but can be plugged into a hdmi amp)
Roku LT (again, no optical)
Dreambox 800se (which has optical but plex is a third party plugin for the box)
WDTV Live (has optical, but doesnt have a plex app but can happily see and access a plex server, but you don't get all the lovely plexness (you get album art but not the descriptions and the full plex experience)

There is so much choice out there! Personally I'd go for an amazon fire tv box if I had to buy a box for plex with optical that wasn't going to cost a lot.
 
If you have Plex Pass you can get the new beta media player which has an install for Raspberry Pi 2 should you want a cheap option!
 
craig_t said:
I use Plex on my LG TV, most other manufactures require you to have a plex pass to use it where LG doesn't as it is made by a third party (The app).
Click to expand...

That's handy to know as I'm planning to get an LG 28LF491U TV for our bedroom with one of the main reasons being to provide access to Plex (& Amazon Prime) through it.
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
I use plex on the following devices:

Chromecast (no optical but can be plugged into a hdmi amp)
Roku LT (again, no optical)
Dreambox 800se (which has optical but plex is a third party plugin for the box)
WDTV Live (has optical, but doesnt have a plex app but can happily see and access a plex server, but you don't get all the lovely plexness (you get album art but not the descriptions and the full plex experience)

There is so much choice out there! Personally I'd go for an amazon fire tv box if I had to buy a box for plex with optical that wasn't going to cost a lot.
Click to expand...

Well, looks like the Roku 4 (with optical out) is the clear choice then...

Now, when will it be released in the UK! It's still not available here :rolleyes:
 
No firm Uk release yet. Rainforest have them for £179.99!
But I expect UK price will be £129, bit much for a stop gap player.
Supposed to be noisy too.
 
Dsteviedee said:
If you get a new TV with PLEX built in.....
Click to expand...

Ahhh! I see :)

But then I suspect the Roku 4 might stay the player of choice as it will probably be better than what a TV offers. ie: Handle my media natively without having to transcode it etc etc...
 
NeilFawcett said:
Ahhh! I see :)

But then I suspect the Roku 4 might stay the player of choice as it will probably be better than what a TV offers. ie: Handle my media natively without having to transcode it etc etc...
Click to expand...

Roku's by their very nature are streamers, I don't know much about the new 4 model but I expect it'll be more of the same so don't expect it to handle any media natively. for that you'd need a wdtv. Plex transcodes its media to a supported format on the fly.
 
Jamesyboyjim said:
Roku's by their very nature are streamers, I don't know much about the new 4 model but I expect it'll be more of the same so don't expect it to handle any media natively. for that you'd need a wdtv. Plex transcodes its media to a supported format on the fly.
Click to expand...

My noddy understanding is, it only transcodes it if necesary. ie: If the client can say play the encoded 1080p mkv file with DTS sounds natively, then no transcoding takes place.

eg: I noticed my Roku 3 was taking a long time to buffer a film (10s+) before it would play it. It's factory defaults for Plex were a local preference of 720p. I changed it 1080p, and the buffering all but disappeared.

So ideally I'd like to get a player in the lounge that plays as much of my library (MKV DTS) as unmolested (transcoded) as possible ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom